Responding to the announcement today (Wednesday 24th November) from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) of a ringfenced investment in Contracts for Difference Allocation Round 4 for tidal stream energy, Dr Stephen Wyatt, ORE Catapult’s Research & Innovation Director, commented:
“We are delighted with this announcement, which sees the tidal stream industry reinstated on their journey to large-scale power generation in the UK. Depending on the prices bid by project developers, we estimate that this announcement could enable between 30 and 60MW of tidal stream capacity deployed in UK waters between 2025 and 2027.
“This fires the starting gun for tidal to establish itself in the UK’s energy system mix, encouraging deployment that will drive cost reduction towards £90MWh at 1GW deployed capacity. Long term benefits could be a net cumulative benefit to the UK by 2030 of £1.4bn, including considerable exports and the creation of around 4,000 jobs.
“Given the tenacity and capability of the industry and their supporters, we can be confident the UK can now make rapid progress on the journey towards commercialisation in UK waters.”